Is Landry Fields actually a bad shooter?

From watching Knicks games last year, I seemed to recall him getting passed the ball late in the shot clock a lot, being forced to shoot bad shots. So, I decided to fire up Synergy and watch every Landry Fields 3-pt attempt from last season to confirm if my memory was correct. I divided all his shot attempts into three categories:

1. "Good" shots (open shots in the flow of the offense)
2. Bad shots forced by the shot clock
3. "Bad shots" (shots that the player forced, not open and/or not in the flow of the offense)

My results? Well, here's the good news, first: Landry Fields doesn't take many bad shots. Out of 126 3pt attempts last season, only 8 of them were "bad"(1-8). A further 18 were bad shots he was forced to take to try to bail out the end of a possession(2-18).

Unfortunately, of the 100 good, reasonably open 3-pointers Fields took last season, he only made 29. Landry Fields's bad shooting last year was NOT primarily because he was stuck in a crappy, Melo-centric offense. It was because he didn't make shots.

The one thing that really jumped out at me from watching the video was that this is a guy who really needs a shooting coach. His form was inconsistent all season. His release is a little bit farther forward than you would like, and he looks like he's trying to work on that...but he's going about it all wrong. In trying to bring his release up higher, he's getting his body off-center and fading a bit on his shots. He also seems to have briefly experimented with a very high, Dirk-style release that was completely ineffective for him. I think if he picks a form--just one--and really works on it with a good shooting coach, he will get back to his rookie season numbers. If not...God help us all.

From watching Knicks games last year, I seemed to recall him getting passed the ball late in the shot clock a lot, being forced to shoot bad shots. So, I decided to fire up Synergy and watch every Landry Fields 3-pt attempt from last season to confirm if my memory was correct. I divided all his shot attempts into three categories:

1. "Good" shots (open shots in the flow of the offense)
2. Bad shots forced by the shot clock
3. "Bad shots" (shots that the player forced, not open and/or not in the flow of the offense)

My results? Well, here's the good news, first: Landry Fields doesn't take many bad shots. Out of 126 3pt attempts last season, only 8 of them were "bad"(1-8). A further 18 were bad shots he was forced to take to try to bail out the end of a possession(2-18).

Unfortunately, of the 100 good, reasonably open 3-pointers Fields took last season, he only made 29. Landry Fields's bad shooting last year was NOT primarily because he was stuck in a crappy, Melo-centric offense. It was because he didn't make shots.

The one thing that really jumped out at me from watching the video was that this is a guy who really needs a shooting coach. His form was inconsistent all season. His release is a little bit farther forward than you would like, and he looks like he's trying to work on that...but he's going about it all wrong. In trying to bring his release up higher, he's getting his body off-center and fading a bit on his shots. He also seems to have briefly experimented with a very high, Dirk-style release that was completely ineffective for him. I think if he picks a form--just one--and really works on it with a good shooting coach, he will get back to his rookie season numbers. If not...God help us all.

I mean no disrespect and im not being sarcastic, but are you, or ever was a pro basketball shooting coach?

Nope, only amateur. But it doesn't take a pro to see there's something wrong with his stroke--just watch the tape. There are plenty of great shooters with an unconventional or "bad" shooting form, but none with an inconsistent form. Good shooting is all about meticulous repetition, and if your form changes every time you shoot, your practice time is being wasted.

I almost wanted the Knicks to match just for the hilarity of them having to eat a 9M contract in year three, but since they didn't, I'm actually pretty happy with this signing. Yes, 20M is a lot of money, but to me its not as unreasonable as some of the "NBA experts" are saying. I like Fields, and I think he'll live up to his 7M per year from TO with smart basketball.

Great post, tkfu. And maybe Fields will get some much needed help here, because the Rap's assistant coach (can't remember his name) who worked with JJ last year did miracles (getting JJ to improve all the way from hideous to merely mediocre in a matter of months).

Hey tkfu, did you also go through his rookie year? I mean, if you're going to make a judgment, maybe it should include that too. I'm not trying to make excuses, but variance in form can also be the result of exhaustion/lack of conditioning. I know that sounds bad, but I mean mostly because of the shortened season where he possibly didn't keep his training regimen up in the summer beforehand either. It was a tough season for many players, and for some that was obviously part of the reason. And if I had a bunch of extra time off with no end in sight to spend with a girl that hot, I might not spend too much time in the gym.

Hey tkfu, did you also go through his rookie year? I mean, if you're going to make a judgment, maybe it should include that too. I'm not trying to make excuses, but variance in form can also be the result of exhaustion/lack of conditioning. I know that sounds bad, but I mean mostly because of the shortened season where he possibly didn't keep his training regimen up in the summer beforehand either. It was a tough season for many players, and for some that was obviously part of the reason. And if I had a bunch of extra time off with no end in sight to spend with a girl that hot, I might not spend too much time in the gym.

No, I haven't looked at his rookie year yet. Maybe I will for a follow-up post. There's one thing I noticed that could maybe be attributed to a change in offensive system: he was especially terrible when he was curling or coming off pindown screens. He was best when he was already squared up before catching the pass, often either off a quick perimeter cut to the open space or spotted up in the corner. He's got a really good sense of where the ball handler's passing lanes are going to be, and gets himself into the right spot and makes himself available for the pass. That is a skill that he is years ahead of DeRozan in, incidentally: too often DeMar just stands still on the perimeter or in the corner when he could be making himself more of a threat.

Hey tkfu, did you also go through his rookie year? I mean, if you're going to make a judgment, maybe it should include that too. I'm not trying to make excuses, but variance in form can also be the result of exhaustion/lack of conditioning. I know that sounds bad, but I mean mostly because of the shortened season where he possibly didn't keep his training regimen up in the summer beforehand either. It was a tough season for many players, and for some that was obviously part of the reason. And if I had a bunch of extra time off with no end in sight to spend with a girl that hot, I might not spend too much time in the gym.

When were all those pics with his girlfriend taken. Probably during the lockout.

I almost wanted the Knicks to match just for the hilarity of them having to eat a 9M contract in year three, but since they didn't, I'm actually pretty happy with this signing. Yes, 20M is a lot of money, but to me its not as unreasonable as some of the "NBA experts" are saying. I like Fields, and I think he'll live up to his 7M per year from TO with smart basketball.

In the end, I am cautiously optimistic that Fields will be an above average player in the league for us. Seeing as the average salary is ~5.2 M, having an above average player for ~6.3 M per season is pretty good.

Hey tkfu, great analysis. You're dead on about the high release point too from what I saw last year. From what I recall, there were actually games where he would release the ball entirely differently from shot to shot *within the same game* which is definitely problematic, but which is also reassuring, insofar as it's easily corrected with coaching and practice.

Btw, how do you use this synergy thing? I've been hearing about it a few times now, is it something you need to purchase? Or am I just revealing my newbyness lol

Yeah!!!

Yeahhhhhh... another avg player.
Well I guess he would be good off the bench player,soooo u got jj,klieza,ross,demar,fields...lol..
This franchise needs big trade,plz go get a proven sf...enough with these mediocre talent,omg,just brutal signing.
Ohh yeah,if u think this good signing then why didn't ny match it,they wont even match Lin contract, bc his not worth it same as fields...

P.S

Why the hell is calderon still a raptor,amnesty his A$$,get him out of here or trade him..I'm sure 1 year at 10 million is worth a lot on the market...ie salary cap relief.